I was recently on a field recording trip and I noticed I had something miked so closely that the capsule began to distort. This got me thinking about an older article/interview David Farmer did for designingsound.org. In it, he talks about how he doesn't use headphones while recording source.

It's an interesting practice and I was wondering how often people do the same for a majority of their recordings.

A lot of people say that you have to hear what’s going down, to know what you’re getting. I’d say for a production recordist that is true, especially since they’re removed from the source by a physical distance. However that’s rarely the case for the stuff I’m recording. I’m usually right up against the action. And many many times, you’re not hearing JUST the recording, but a blend of the recording and a certain amount of bleed through from the source sound directly. Once several of us were recording the flame bursts from a hot air balloon. One of the recordists thought they had gotten a great recording, because what he heard in his “cans” sounded great. However, when we listened to it later, the recording was pretty badly overmodded. His levels looked good, but the preamps were clipping, and this was even padded. But he couldn’t tell that during recording because the source sound was bleeding through the headphones & masking the distortion in the recording. If you have some extreme isolating headphones, and also monitor really loudly, that would minimize the chance of that happening to you. But I’ve seen it again & again where wearing headphones didn’t prevent this problem. Usually people say something like, “OK that should be good, now let’s get it back to the studio and see what we got.” So IMO headphones are actually a pretty poor judge of what’s going down.

But perhaps the main reason I don’t wear headphones is, I don’t like searching for the sound in the space, with the microphone. In music studio recording, one of the tricks is to walk around in the space while the band is playing. If you find a spot where something sounds good, you stick a mic there. But you search the space with your ears, not the mic. Imagine a “sound gallery” that is like a shooting gallery. You’re standing in the middle of the room and sounds will happen at random locations around you. If you’re wearing headphones, and I’m not, I’ll have my mic pointed at the source before you every time, and likely many times faster.

It's an interesting approach, certainly. I have a couple of quibbles with what he says. I hope I don't come across like a jerk; that's not my intention.

First, the hot air balloon guy may not have been helped by his headphones, but I'm pretty sure he still wouldn't have been aware of the overmodulation if he hadn't been wearing them. So I'm not sure what point that anecdote is attempting to prove. Just because the headphones didn't prevent a problem doesn't mean not wearing them is the solution.

Second, while I actually agree with his point about finding the good place to record with phones off, I disagree that the recording will necessarily be better if you keep them off. Microphones don't hear things like ears hear them. So finding the best place to listen to a sound with your ears is just Step One. Next you need to figure out where the mic hears it best, so put the phones on. You might find that turning the mic 20º eliminates some weird background noise and brings the sound you're trying to record into sharper focus. You'll only hear that if you have your phones on. Heck, that happened to me just yesterday. Farmer says in the expanded interview, "So how do I judge the proximity of the mic to the source if I’m not monitoring it? Good question. I don’t know. I’m not sure if it’s a sense I’ve just developed with trial and error, but I usually get a good feel for where the mic should be." Not to belabor the point, but I can get a pretty specific feel for where the mic should be if I can hear what the mic is hearing.

To his point about finding sounds in the first place: of course a guy carrying a mono mic wearing headphones won't be able to localize a sound faster than a guy using his ears. That's just basic biology. A guy holding a stereo mic has a little bit of a chance, but only if the mic is pointed directly forward, and held at face level. Otherwise he's chasing localization cues that his brain is interpreting according to where his ears ought to be, not where the mic is, and he's screwed.

Ultimately, if it works for him, great. He certainly gets great sounds, so I can't fault him for his opinion about his technique.

To answer your question: I use headphones most of the time when I'm using my Sound Devices recorder. I never use them when using my Zoom for serendipitous sounds. That's primarily because A) I'm usually trying to capture something very very quickly and wiring up phones will take too long (hell, I wish the Zoom booted up quicker too), and 2) while I do carry the Zoom around with me I simply don't keep nice phones on me at all times. So, quite honestly, while I did just argue against Farmer's approach, I use it pretty frequently. I just wouldn't advocate for it as an exclusive technique. YMMV.

I usually prefer recording with headphones on to get a proper feel of the sound through the microphones, but for convenience and laziness purpose I often have to leave them at home when I'm outside doing ambiences. I hold my ORTF rig in one hand, the heavy Coopersound strapped around my shoulders, a couple cables dangling etc ... If I add the headphones to the equation I quickly myself entangled in gear and cables. My headphones are the AKG 271 which are pretty big and heavy, so that doesn't help.

If I'm in a quiet place where I can set the gear on the floor then it's something else, but for "guerilla" outside recording in the city I've yet to find a convenient solution that doesn't screw with my mobility.

Anyone has a special solution ? I guess using thin short cables for my mics could be a start. Switching to the famous Sennheiser might be one, as it seems smaller and more comfy. Do you guys, er, tape the mics on your shoulders ? Have a special jacket for running cables through the sleeves ?! Have a dog with your headphones on which barks whenever there's distortion ?

Or more to the point : any good experience with some light portable retractable headphones ?